What we do: Radio signal sender
Glue the two aluminum foil sheets to the carton
Glue the two wire to the foils (see the figure)
Connect them with the gas lighter

Receiver:

Solder the two other wires to the end of bulb

Push igniter, this will create sparks in the gap
Close the receiver, and the bulb will lightening

You can make a diffraction grating from
aluminum foil, and study the polarization of waves

What we can learn: The principle of a Nobel prize experiment
of Heinrich Hertz.

(idea: Stray Cats, Japan)

3.) Home made GM counter

What we do need: Two film tubes (plastic
tube, that film comes in)
Wire, paper, gas (from gas lighter)
Aluminum Foil, screw
Pocket radio

What we
do: Make two holes
in the first film tube (see the figure)
Put wires trough them
Put paper cylinder in the can
Fill with gas (from gas lighter), and close it
Make a capacitor (see the figure)
Connect the capacitor to a counter
Tune your pocket radio to static- no channels
You can listen the discharges due by particles on the radio

What we can learn: The structure and
principle of GM counter
(idea: Kawakatsu Hiroshi, Japan)

4.) Game for to study of half life

What we need: Coins or
dice

What we do:
Have your class stand up
All the students have a coin
At the same time they should their coins all throw up
Those who threw a head, should sit down
Repeat it, and take down #`s.
You can change the ratio of probability with dice

What we can learn: The random process
is not chaos either.

5.) Home made cloud chamber

What we
need: A heatproof glass bowl
A dark piece of cotton, or silk
Dry ice Alcohol Sponge
A piece of transistor cooler
Any charged object
Desk lamp
Tiny radioactive source (beta or alpha)
What we
do: Put dry
ice in a plastic box
It must be broken, and a little alcohol poured onto it, and then put in the
transistor cooler
Pour a little alcohol (1-2 ml) onto a sponge around the bowl, put in the
source in the bowl.
Tightly wrap the top with plastic wrap
Put a bowl onto the transistor cooler
Wait a little bit, for the alcohol evaporate
Pass the charged object over the top of the wrap to clean the field of other
particles

What can we
learn: The principle of diffusion cloud chamber
(idea: Mori Yuji, Japan)

Plastic wrap

Sponge glued around to sides of bowl

Heatproof bowl
Any dark synthetic textile
Cotton

Heat insulator box (plastic foam)

Dry ice

6.) Spark detector

What we need:
3000 V DC (see the figure)
A metal plate
A wire (see the figure)
Radioactive source

What we
do: Join the detector to a
voltage
Put a source above it.

What we can learn: The principle of spark
chambers
(idea: Shiniichi Kishizawa)

7.) Spectroscopy

What we
need: Stiff paper, plastic diffraction
grating

What we
do: Cut out from the
stiff paper the body of spectroscope (see the figure).
Make a round hole at the end of the tube (30 cm x 2,5 cm), and slit at the
other end.
You can glue the grating to the inside of the hole, and prepare the tube.
When you look through the hole, at the bottom of your viewing screen you will
see a spectrum.

If you have a bigger piece of grating, you can take a photo of a spectrum too.
Put the grating on a stable frame.
In a dark room you can find the spectrum, and take a photo. You must
experiment with the exposure time.
(idea: Yanchai Yingprayoon, Thailand)

8.) Collecting radioactivity in
the classroom

8/1
What we
need: A toy
balloon
A Geiger-Muller counter
A glass

What we
do:
Blow up the balloon
Give it a charge (with silk, or with the hair of a longhaired girl)
Put it on the glass on the floor (insulator)
Wait 30 minutes until and let the balloon deflate
Hold the balloon up to the counter
Compare the count of impulses with the background

8/2

What we
need: Vacuum cleaner
Six layer of medical gauze, rubber ring
A Geiger-Muller counter

What we
do:
We force the gauze to the end of the tube of vacuum cleaner.
Run the vacuum in the basement or in another poorly ventilated area
Take the gauze, and you can measure the radioactivity

What we can learn: We live in
continuous radiation.

9.) Measurement of size of molecules

Introduction The molecule: oleic acid, a
long particle with one end hydrophilic, another -
hydrophobic. It does not dissolve in water, but when a drop of oleic acid is put on
the water surface it spreads out into
Mono molecular layer (if it has enough place - one drop needs a surface of swimming
pool!) To make an experiment possible in school lab one has to dissolve oleic
acid in
ethanol - which can be done without any restrictions.
The best results are obtained in a 0.5% (volume) solution.

What we do: 1.
Prepare solution;
2. Fill the cuvette (like for developing pictures) with water and spread fine powder
light on its surface.
3. Using the pipette put one drop of solution on the surface;
4. Using the ruler measure the size of the oleic acid layer; remember, the ethanol
will dissolve in water.
5. Knowing how much the real volume of oleic acid was and what the size of layer
is you can calculate the size of the molecule.